Winter storms eat up snow removal budget
By Melissa Muntz Community Reporter

Shrewsbury - With more than three months of possible winter storms ahead, Shrewsbury has already used more than 60 percent of its snow removal budget. Three early major storms have forced the town to spend significantly more on snow and ice removal than they did at this time last year.

The town received 10 inches of snow over Dec. 13 and 14, 2007, at a cost of $48,000 for removal. Nine inches of snow fell over Dec. 16 and 17, which cost the town $66,000 to remove.

Numbers for the third storm at the beginning of the year are not yet available.

Town Manager Daniel Morgado said the town uses historical data to try to budget appropriately, but said the unpredictable nature of weather makes it very hard to get it right.

"It's very, very difficult because even looking at the numbers from the past two storms, it was more expensive to remove the snow when we got fewer inches," he said. "You can have a four- to sixinch ice storm and spend a lot more money than you will on a 14-inch snowstorm."

Morgado said the reason for the discrepancy in cost is that it is far less expensive to plow snow than it is to salt ice on the roads.

Because of its unpredictable nature, snow removal is the one area that cities and towns are allowed to carry a deficit in at the end of the budget year. Even still, Morgado said the town will take the appropriate measures to make sure that's not the case.

"This year we have been spending a lot … but if we do run a deficit, we'll take care of it at Town Meeting," he said.

Water rates adjusted

for multi-family units

The Board of Selectmen has adjusted the water connection fees for multi-family units, saying the rate structure it adopted in 2007 is disproportionate for large buildings.

The initial fees adopted last year required every unit of a multi-family dwelling to be treated as a single-family home with its own water meter, a $4,000 connection fee and a $1,000 conservation fee.

The new fee, eff ective immediately, requires a $5,000 water connection and conservation fee for the first dwelling and a $2,000 water connection fee and $250 water conservation fee for all other dwellings sharing the same water meter.

The board realized the effect of the previous rate structure while negotiating with developers of the Avalon at Shrewsbury Hills 40B complex that will be built on CenTech Boulevard.

Under the old rates, developers would spend more than $2 million in connection and conservation fees, as opposed to the $934,500 it will cost them under the new rate structure.

The Avalon at Shrewsbury Hills project includes 400 units that will be divided among 28 water meters. Adjusting the rates, Morgado said, will actually create less work for the town.

"If they were all singlefamily homes, we'd install 400 meters, and we'd have to read 400 separate meters," Morgado said. "It's economic for the town to do it this way."

The board voted, 4-0, in favor of the change; Selectman John Lebeaux abstained.